So as you know, this is

FILLER WEEK

once again, which means I'm working on the next country episodes,

which means, we got to talk about some hypotheticals.

So after our last topical video about urbanizing the arctic, it really kind of got me thinking:

What are some other ways we could change the way we live on this planet?

In D.J. MacHale's 'Pendragon' book series, there's a story about a boy who was to

save the universe by traveling to ten different 'territories'.

These territories are different worlds found in the supposed universe

(I guess)

in different sections of the space-time continuum.

Three of these 'territories' are actually Earth but they take place in three different time eras:

One is in the 1930s,

the other one is in the present day

and the other one is in the 51st century.

What I remember finding most fascinating about the book was

MacHale's description of Earth in the 51st century, or 'Third Earth' as it's referred to in the book:

In this story, over time, Earth suffered from an overpopulation problem

and thus they decided to colonize other planets and moons throughout the solar system.

For the people that decided to remain on Earth,

About half of them reside above ground in small cubic houses

and the other half reside underground in massive subterranean complexes,

complete with living units, shops, parks, schools and so on.

And it kind of got me thinking: Would it be wise to live underground, and if so,

what are the potential benefits and precautions that would follow from pursuing such a-

-a massive feat of civil engineering?

First of all, subterranean living is nothing new to us.

Already, people have been creating living spaces underground for millennia.

You can find places like the ancient Berber abodes of Matmata in Tunisia where Star Wars was filmed

all the way to the recent Coober Pedy town in Australia which has almost 2,000 full-time residents.

Otherwise, the Path Network in Toronto, Canada has the world's largest underground shopping complex.

Nonetheless, there really hasn't been any place on Earth that has implemented a

subterranean structure format for a mass urban populace of people of millions.

Could it be possible, and if so what would it take to build such a massive behemoth of ingenuity?

Well first of all, what are the advantages of subterranean living?

Well for one, you have resistance to severe weather,

you have a quiet living space,

natural insulating properties from the ground that create a nearly constant interior temperature,

energy efficiency

and security-

-I mean, if your city is getting bombed, it's safest to be underground

and radar satellites can't really track you that easily.

Now what are some of the cons?

Well it depends, but in some cases,

unless you have a well-established pump and ventilation system,

underground units could be easily subject to flooding or even suffocation

if passageways get blocked off or tunnel collapse and trapping.

Then of course, you might want to avoid building near a fault line to avoid earthquakes

and volcanic activity, which would just destroy everything in a matter of seconds.

That means if we were to construct entire underground cities,

we would have to work out a system in which every living and commercial unit

had access to clean air and water, a problem many surface dwellers might not struggle with.

We would also have to design an insane labyrinth of passageways and escape routes

just in case if one tunnel gets blocked.

Plus, you know digging can be kind of expensive,

I mean, subways aren't cheap to begin with:

Now take that, and multiply it by like

*500,000*

for an entire city of people.

On the plus side, electric wiring would probably be a lot easier to accommodate:

You could just thread the electric wiring through dug-out tunnels rather than investing in

all the tons of material required to make electric poles and towers.

However, a small problem we might have to overcome would be wifi and cell reception:

In order to get these accommodations,

you need to have big, open, unobstructed spaces and satellites

the further down you go, the more difficult it gets.

Many large cities like New York and Seoul, South Korea have figured out a way

to relay the signal via a system of cords called the 'leaky coax' service,

in which cables run through the tunnels and literally leak the signal from above-ground antennae

through a series of holes in them.

If there's enough room, underground antennae can be installed too,

however, It's a little difficult with limited space for broadcast.

Nonetheless, other than those factors,

there's really not much that would get in the way of daily life, other than maybe missing the sunny day,

but, I mean, if you live in a region that's pretty much overcast the majority of the year

then it wouldn't be much of a loss to begin with.

It might even be wise for farmers in big, open crop lands to live underground

so as to avoid tornado season and reduce property damage.

Already, most homes in the Midwest of the USA have basements or tornado cellars

that they go into in the event of a twister.

If you live underground, a tornado could literally pass over your ceiling

and you could calmly sit back and sip your coffee while reading the newspaper.

Another thing to think about is:

What would we do with all the excess dirt and gravel that we dug up after completing these massive cities?

Well, there's a lot of things you can do with it-

-after construction, most sites like to see if the gravel and dirt is clean and uncontaminated.

If it is, they typically sell it to other contractors

who'd like to use it in other projects:

Things like filling up landfills or abandoned quarries,

roadwork,

artificial terrain leveling

and land reclamation from the sea.

The last one, I believe, could be a very important use:

What if countries across the world could donate their excess earth and gravel to Pacific island nations

that are currently struggling to maintain their coastlines due to rising sea levels?

Wouldn't that be cool?

Currently, Tuvalu and Kiribati (Kiribas) are trying really hard to plant mangroves to reclaim whatever

disappearing beaches they can.

However, what if we just gave them a lot of soil and gravel

to expand the coast rather than cling on to whatever's left?

Could we do it?

*goes up an octave* Well

it might be a little expensive, considering the immense distance it takes to get there,

let alone the weight of the gravel and earth on a cargo ship which would require more fuel costs,

but who knows?

It might actually be easier to siphon the land from underwater,

kind of like what Dubai did with those artificial Islands off the coast.

Actually that might *not* be a good idea because it might harm the underwater reef system and wildlife...

In the end, subterranean habitation is actually kind of environmentally friendly, and it sounds nice

but there are just so many factors that go into it and would it even be worth it?

Who knows? What do you think?

How would you engineer an urban subterranean civil structure?

That was just my thought for today,

hope you like this topical video

subscribe if you'd like

and (uh) stay cool, stay tuned!

*keek keek*

*le outro music*